


Let Me Know

by nexparker



Series: Blood On Your Hands [4]
Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 乐华七子NEXT | NEX7, 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: F/F, I Watched Too Much Grey's Anatomy, M/M, Nine Percent - Freeform, doctor!yanchen, gang!awaken-f, gang!nex7, gangmember!zeren, gramarie, yuehua - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-12 21:10:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16003364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nexparker/pseuds/nexparker
Summary: “I seem to find all the answers to questions I don’t like, but you make them all alright.”Italics: FlashbackWord Count: 5.6kWarnings: blood, swearing, kinda graphic descriptions of wounds, really inaccurate medicine, surgery, tropes, tooth-rotting fluff.





	Let Me Know

“How did you say he got this injury?” The attending looked up, waiting for the resident to answer.

“I didn’t.” 

“Surely that would be one of the first things you would ask the patient, or are you too good for that, Doctor...?” He waited for an answer. 

“Zhou.” Yanchen replied quietly.

“Doctor Zhou. Hmmph. Residents are getting too cocky these days, ignoring basic protocol and missing steps.” The attending spoke, disapproval laced in his tone. 

“Sorry.” Yanchen muttered, the sound muffled by his surgical mask, looking back down at his hands, which were currently covered in Zeren’s blood.  **Again.**

They’d been in surgery for a little under half an hour, having just started, really. Yanchen mentally sighed, knowing he was going to have to deal with the grumblings and disappointment in the eyes of the attending for at least another hour. This was  **NOT**  going to look good on his fellowship applications. The slightly rapid beeping of the EKG and the hissing of the ventilator helped to take the resident’s mind away from his irritating superior for just a few moments.

“Can you give me a little more visibility?  **It would be helpful to actually see what we’re dealing with.** ” The attending broke the silence again with a icy glare towards Yanchen, who was holding the suction tool in his left hand. 

Not replying, Yanchen moved to clear the field with the tool carefully before letting his eyes flick away from the sight. They settled on the EKG monitor, quickly analyzing the stats that glowed on the screen.

“His pressure is low.” He reported to the staff, but mainly to the attending. “We should hang more blood and another unit of F.F.P.” (Fresh Frozen Plasma; used to help blood clot in certain circumstances.)

Looking back over his shoulder, the attending watched the monitor before sighing. “You heard the resident.” He said, signalling to the rest of the staff that they should proceed with Yanchen’s idea. 

“Have you found the source of the internal bleeding yet?” Yanchen asked, looking back down. 

“Not yet. It’s not too severe right now, but he definitely would have bled out in a few hours, that is if he didn’t die of sepsis yet.” The attending grunted before pulling out another blood soaked cloth.

The sounds that had accompanied Yanchen this far into Zeren’s surgery became the main thing he focused on as time ticked by. The X-ray they had done showed that the piece of metal was lying flat between the sixth and seventh intercostal spaces (the spaces between your ribs). Yanchen had let out a giant sigh of relief when the scans showed that is hadn’t punctured Zeren’s lung. At this point, he wasn’t sure if the relief was present because it meant Zeren’s surgery would be a lot easier or because there was less of a chance that Zhengting would murder Yanchen in cold blood.

Looking up at Zeren’s head, the resident scanned the brunette’s features; He almost looked as if he was asleep aside from the tube coming out of his mouth and his eyes taped shut. His hair was covered with a cap to keep the environment sterile. He looked somewhat peaceful and childlike, not spitting snarky comments at the resident and not showing any signs of feeling pain. Yanchen’s attention was only brought back to the actual surgery by the sound of the attending’s voice.

“I found it.” 

Yanchen’s eyes snapped back down to the open field, seeing the light catch on a piece of bloody, rusty metal embedded in tissue. 

“Forceps.” The attending held out his hand, waiting for the instrument to be passed to him.

“Be careful.” Yanchen warned. “It could fracture more.” 

“Don’t you think I don’t know that, Doctor Zhou?” the attending snapped. 

Yanchen watched as the forceps gripped the metal shard carefully before slowly working it free. The attending held up the shard, examining it under better light. 

“Hope he’s had his tetanus shot.” He remarked, placing it in a dish for disposal. “Let’s get this bleeding under control and then Doctor Zhou, here, can close. He seems to need a refresher on fundamentals.”

Yanchen bit his tongue to keep from saying anything.

The rest of the surgery went by quickly enough with no complications, much to Yanchen’s relief. However, the resident would still have to keep an eye on Zeren to watch for sepsis. Yanchen wasn’t sure if he was looking forward to the long hospital stay Zeren had lying in front of him. 

 

* * *

 

 

“Everything went smoothly, but there piece of metal that we discovered inside his chest cavity puts him at high risk for infection. We’ll be keeping him here for a few days for observation.” Yanchen reported, trying to focus purely on Zhengting instead of the eyes of the other Yuehua members burning holes into his back. 

“Good.” Zhengting said before glancing around to ensure they couldn’t be heard. “Is there anyone I should know about that knows of the nature of our work, perhaps?” Zhengting asked, a small threat hidden in his voice. 

Quickly shaking his head, Yanchen swallowed hard. 

“I haven’t told anyone about that night...” He trailed off, remembering his earlier conversation in the closet with Linong and Zhou Rui.

“Let’s keep it that way.” Zhengting said, with a light pat on Yanchen’s shoulder, the threat still hanging in the air. He walked back over to his members, presumably to tell them the news while Yanchen stood frozen in the waiting room. The resident watched as the gang members breathed out sighs of relief that he expected they had been holding almost the entire surgery. 

Some of the members hugged each other while one blonde one that he think was called Quanzhe looked to be on the verge of tears. They looked vulnerable, almost; not a word that would typically be used to describe Yuehua. Yanchen expected them to come in here, dressed in all black or maybe even suits with concealed weapons hidden at their hips. Instead, they sported hoodies and ripped jeans, messy hair and tired eyes. They looked just like any other person in the waiting room, leading Yanchen to ponder what else they did just like everyone else.

 

* * *

 

 

“How’d your surgery go?” Zhou Rui asked, setting a pile of charts down at the nurses’ station.

“I’m pretty sure that attending wants me dead, but it was alright.” Yanchen replied distractedly, not looking back at his friend. Instead he focused his eyes on room 4618. Zeren’s room.

“All the attendings want us dead. You’re not special.” the older snorted. 

“Uh-huh.” Yanchen said, not entirely sure what his friend had said. 

Zhou Rui paused, looking past Yanchen at the door that the younger resident was staring at, finding nothing interesting about it. 

Snapping his fingers in front of Yanchen’s face, Zhou Rui caught his attention. “What’s with the staring?” He asked. Yanchen turned around to face his friend before answering.

“My patient is in there.” Yanchen responded, nodding his head towards the room. 

“Okay?? And??” The older resident asked, still confused.

“That’s the guy I found.” Yanchen stated flatly. 

Zhou Rui almost choked on air. 

“THAT’S THE GUY?!” He asked loudly. Yanchen slapped his hand over his friend’s mouth to make him shut up, only getting a few weird glances.

“Yeah, it’s him. So what?” 

Zhou Rui pulled Yanchen’s hand away from his mouth before speaking. “You never mentioned he was hot!” 

“Oh my god.” Yanchen rolled his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. “You’re terrible, you know that? Here we are as doctors in the ER, working hard to help people and you’re over there determining if you would swipe right on each patient as if you were on Tinder. Unbelievable.” 

“Listen, I never see the light of day outside of this hospital. I need to find love somehow.” Zhou Rui defended himself.

“Your “somehow” is illegal, but okay.” Yanchen shrugged, sarcasm dripping from his words. 

“It’s only illegal until they aren’t a patient anymore!” the older reminded Yanchen.

“You’re crazy.” Yanchen stated. 

“Hence the reason we get along so well.” Zhou Rui reminded him. 

“Shut up. I have to go check on my patient.” Yanchen said, picking up a few charts off the cart. 

“Don’t have too much fun.”

With a final glare sent in the direction of his friend, Yanchen moved towards the room that Zeren rested in. The resident pushed the door open quietly, not that it made much of a difference, considering the brunette was still under light sedation from the surgery. 

The main overhead lights were off, a few smaller ones emitted a soft bluish glow from by the top of the bed. The nurse had removed the breathing tube from Zeren’s mouth just a few minutes before, replacing it with a cannula that supplied oxygen through his nose. Red and green wires traveled from the machines around the gang member to just under the top of his hospital gown and there was a blood pressure cuff wrapped tightly around his right arm. Aside from the electrodes on his chest, there was a central line (like an IV, but it goes into your chest instead of your arm) poking out from above the gown, connected to bags of fluid that hung above.

Yanchen paused for a moment, eyes moving back and forth from the monitors and the slow rising and falling of Zeren’s chest. Everything seemed to be okay, for now at least. 

The resident sighed quietly, sitting down in the chair next to the patient bed to update Zeren’s chart. Yanchen scribbled down numbers and words, on the piece of paper, looking back up at the monitors every now and then to ensure the information was accurate. He also stole glances at the clock, reading to be about 6:30 in the evening. 

Upon finishing the chart, Yanchen was overcome with exhaustion. The way his bones ached after being on his feet all day was starting to get to him. He didn’t mean to, but Yanchen fell asleep in that chair, the soft beeping of the monitors acting as his lullaby.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh my god. What time is it?” Lifting his head and massaging his sore neck, Yanchen squinted as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He was no longer in Zeren’s room, but on a bed in an on call room. How he got there, Yanchen wasn’t entirely sure, but he was sure Zhou Rui had something to do with it. His suspicions were confirmed when he rolled over and saw a sticky note attached to his pager in his friend’s handwriting. It read: ‘You can’t meet the hot patient looking like you got zero quality sleep. Drink a cup of coffee and call me in the morning. You’re welcome. -ZR”.

Shaking his head out of disbelief, Yanchen sat up and swung his legs over the bed before getting up and going to the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face, trying to fix how tired he looked. Eventually giving up after 10 minutes of trying to mask his bedhead, Yanchen exited the on call room where he was greeted by Linong holding two cups of coffee with his signature giant smile on his face.

“Good morning.” the nurse extended one of the cups in Yanchen’s direction, which he took gratefully, yet with suspicion. 

“Zhou Rui put you up to this, didn’t he?” the resident asked.

“Can’t a guy just be nice sometimes?” Linong questioned, a slight pout in his tone.

“You’re always nice.” Yanchen reassured the younger with a pat on the shoulder before taking a sip of the warm liquid.

The two headed towards the nurses station where the oldest of the friend group was waiting for them. 

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty, Linong.” Zhou Rui beamed, clearly proud of himself. Linong returned the smile while Yanchen stared tiredly at his friend, beginning to wonder why he still hung around with him. 

“Good news, I cleared your schedule so that you can really focus on your patients today.” Zhou Rui reported, making Yanchen almost choke on his coffee. 

“You did what?!” he asked after swallowing harshly.

“I know how important patient interactions are to you, so I really wanted to help you with it. You. Are. Welcome.” the oldest’s explanation earned a small snicker from Linong, who Yanchen resisted the urge to elbow in the ribs.

“One of these days, I’m going to make sure you enter this hospital as a patient.” Yanchen threatened. 

“Right.” Zhou Rui said dismissively before continuing. “Here are your patient charts.” He passed Yanchen a stack of charts, almost making the younger resident drop his coffee. 

“Thanks.” Yanchen said through gritted teeth. 

“Have fun!” Zhou Rui called after Yanchen as the resident moved towards the first patient room, thinking of every possible way to murder his friend.

He pushed open the door to Zeren’s room, met with the same quiet (minus the beeping of the machines) he fell asleep to last night. It was nice.

Setting his pile of charts and his coffee down on the end table of Zeren’s bed, Yanchen dug through the clipboards until he found the one belonging to the gang member. Flipping through it, he saw that the nurses had logged no change from early this morning. 

‘Weird,’ Yanchen thought. ‘He should have woken up by now.’ 

Looking at the monitors, Yanchen determined Zeren’s vitals seemed to be within normal limits, making it even stranger that the sedation hadn’t worn off yet. Pulling his stethoscope down from around his neck and putting the ends in his ears, Yanchen moved to listen to Zeren’s lungs. He unbuttoned the gown at the shoulder to allow access to the brunette’s chest, where the metal piece was placed.

“You know, usually, people buy me a drink before taking off my clothes.” Zeren’s voice cut through the quiet of the room, effectively scaring the shit out of Yanchen.

“Holy fucking-” the resident flinched, hands moving to cover his face. 

“Tsk tsk. I didn’t think doctors were allowed to swear on the job.” Zeren grunted, shifting slightly in position. 

“How long have you been awake?” Yanchen asked, quickly rebuttoning the gown at the shoulder. 

“Not long.” the brunette answered.

“I-uh, How are you feeling?” 

“Honestly? Like dying. But y’know last time you tried to solve that, I nearly died, so.” Zeren cocked his head to the side to look at the resident. 

“Shut up.” Yanchen hissed, not knowing if anyone was listening. “It’s not my fault that I can’t see inside of you. It’s not my fault that you got your ass beat, either.”

Zeren rolled his eyes at the resident. 

“What does it take to get a man some more morphine? That’s what I want to know.” He asked, changing the subject.

“I can’t give you any more right now. Hospital policy.” Yanchen told him, putting his stethoscope back around his neck and moving back to where Zeren’s chart was sitting on the table and scribbling something down about his respiratory rate.

“Of course not.” Zeren sighed, leaning back into the pillows. 

There was silence between the two for a few moments as Yanchen continued to write things down on Zeren’s chart without looking up. Zeren tried to shift to see what he was writing, but the movement only aggravated the pain in his side. 

“You’ll be sore for a while.” Yanchen said upon hearing the hiss in pain coming from the brunette, still not looking up. 

“That’s the understatement of the year.” Zeren snapped. 

Looking back up and giving the brunette a clearly fake smile, Yanchen said “Try not to move so much.”

“Yeah, I got that.” Zeren glared back.

After another pause in conversation, Yanchen stacked Zeren's chart on top of the rest. 

"I'll have another doctor come change your dressing soon."

"Why don't you just do it?" Zeren asked, not entirely sure why he wanted the resident to stay.

"I have other patients to check on." Yanchen answered flatly.

“Whatever.” Zeren replied. 

Yanchen rolled his eyes as he walked out of the room. He had “better things to deal with” than a sardonic patient this early in the morning.

With that, Zeren was left alone to his thoughts once more. He was starting to hate it. At least, he could enjoy the quiet before his members came into the room, as Zeren was sure it wouldn’t last upon their arrival.

He knew he was going to get so much shit from the rest of Yuehua, but he also knew he deserved it, seeing as he probably scared them shitless. 

Sighing, Zeren looked around his hospital room. 

‘Better get accustomed to this place before Zhengting-ge makes sure I never leave it again.’ He thought. 

The room was brightly lit, sunlight streaming in through the windows at the left side of the room. It kind of hurt Zeren’s head, along with the beeping of the machines that surrounded him. It was just another pain to deal with on top of the pain in his side. The burning feeling was gone, but Zeren still felt a deep ache around his ribs that got worse when he moved. Deciding against looking at the cut again, Zeren began to play with the pulse oximeter on his right pointer finger instead. It was slightly heavy and didn’t give him a lot of room to move his hand considering it was attached to yet another machine. 

Growing bored, the brunette wished he had something to do other than focus on the blood pressure cuff squeezing his arm periodically and think about when Yanchen would come back. His mind pondered about the statistics. 

Yanchen. Of all the doctors in all the hospitals in the area that could be treating him, of course it was Yanchen that was taking care of him once again.  Zeren wasn’t sure why, but he was comforted by it. Obviously, it didn’t show. But then again, nothing ever did with Zeren. Usually, he didn’t like it when others knew what he was thinking and feeling. It allowed for vulnerability. 

But for some weird reason, he didn’t absolutely hate the idea of being vulnerable around Yanchen. 

Not that he would ever tell the resident that.

 

* * *

 

 

Zhengting prodded a sleeping Wenjun until the taller hesitantly opened his eyes. The leader watched as the other stretched, sore from sleeping in a chair in the hospital waiting room. The other members didn’t move; Xinchun and Chengcheng were sleeping sitting up in chairs, heads resting against the backs of the chairs, while Quanzhe and Minghao had moved to the floor, making makeshift pillows out of their hoodies.

“What time is it?” Wenjun asked tiredly. 

“Around 8:30.” Zhengting replied quietly before getting straight to the point. “I’m leaving for a bit. Go ahead and get the rest of the members something to eat with this.” He handed Wenjun some crumpled cash.

“Where are you going?” 

“That’s not important. I’ll be back soon. Call me with any updates on Zeren. The doctor said he should be awake soon.” Zhengting replied, speaking in clipped tones in order to leave as soon as possible. He turned to leave but Wenjun grabbed his wrist.

“Be careful.” Wenjun warned, eyes showing concern. He knew that the leader could protect himself, but after what happened to Zeren, Wenjun knew better than to put full faith in any one member’s fighting skills.

“When am I not?” Zhengting gave the second in command a small, yet reassuring smile before pulling his wrist out of his grasp and walking out the double doors of the hospital. 

The leader was immediately greeted with a crisp breeze that seemed to wash away all the stress of the past few days. He really needed to get out of that hospital; It reminded him too much of the past. The smell of antiseptic was too strong, burning his nose and making his eyes sting, and the sound of people crying after getting bad news was too loud, making Zhengting’s heart feel heavier with every sob. 

Everyone always assumed that he didn’t feel things. His cold, hardened personality reinforced this assumption. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t have emotions, it’s just that he chose not to feel them; if he did, Zhengting wasn’t sure he’d be able to continue living. It was better to be numb.

The leader pulled his hoodie around him tighter as he continued walking away from the hospital, trying to combat the cold air as much as he could. The chill bit at his fingers, so he stuffed them in his pockets. Zhengting wasn’t even sure where he was meaning to go, but he was glad that he ended up where he did.

Knocking on the door in front of him, the leader waited for an answer as he shuffled his feet. There was no response, so he knocked again, this time slightly harder, making his already sore fingers hurt more. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Sheesh.” a voice that Zhengting recognized sounded through the door. The sound of a latch being undone was heard before the door opened, revealing the owner of the home. 

“Zhengting?” She asked. 

Looking up from his shoes, Zhengting stared back at her blankly. “I need a drink, Cheng Xiao.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Why are you here asking for alcohol, Zhengting? It’s literally only 9 in the morning.” Cheng Xiao asked as she slid her friend a beer across the table before opening another for her.

“Zeren’s in the hospital. He had surgery yesterday.” Zhengting replied flatly, taking a sip of his drink.

“What happened?” 

Sighing, Zhengting summarized the story. “He got ambushed by OACA and took a knife to the side. Long story short, the cut got super infected because there was still a piece of the knife stuck inside of him and it caused some internal bleeding. The dumbass didn’t tell us anything until he fainted.” 

“Holy shit. How are you all holding up?” the raven-haired one asked, knowing that Yuehua has never had a great past with the other gang, Zhengting especially. 

“We’re fine. It’s fine. The rest of the members are still at the hospital. I had to leave because--” Zhengting tried his best to keep his voice from breaking to no avail. His head drooped down a little. 

Setting down her drink, Cheng Xiao moved over to comfort her friend. “You don’t have to say it.” she told him quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

Zhengting bit his lip, forcing himself to pull it back together. Lifting his head back up, he gave Cheng Xiao the best reassuring smile he could manage. Even if it had been years, the wound left in his heart stung just the same.

“Do they know where you are?” She asked, referring to the other members.

“I only told Wenjun I was leaving, not where I was going. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to figure it out though.” He replied, picking up the bottle again and holding it to his mouth. 

Cheng Xiao only hummed at this, taking another sip of her beer as well. A quiet fell over the two, the only sounds that were made were the sounds of the glass bottles clinking as they hit the table and liquid sloshing inside of them. Zhengting had always appreciated this about their friendship; they didn’t always need to talk. Sometimes they would sit in silence for hours, doing their own thing, but it helped them to connect on a level that ran deeper than words. 

“Well, what are you going to do?” Cheng Xiao finally broke the silence. 

Finishing off his drink, Zhengting set the bottle down on the table before speaking. 

“Not sure. But I know it’s going to be different this time. I’m not letting anyone else get hurt because of that bastard.” Zhengting said determinedly, almost as is speaking to himself instead of his friend. 

“Attaboy. Now, do you want something to eat? Jieqiong made dinner last night and we have tons of leftovers.” Cheng Xiao encouraged, patting her friend on the shoulder before pulling the bottle away from the leader and tossing it in the recycling. 

“I think I’ll have to pass.” Zhengting politely denied. “Zeren’s supposed to be waking up soon. I should be there to kick his ass.” He explained, standing up from the stool he was sitting at at the island in Cheng Xiao’s kitchen.

“Gotcha.” She said. “Well, if you need anything, I’m here.” Cheng Xiao moved around to give her friend a hug after the pair had walked to the door.

“Okay.” the leader replied, chuckling a bit.

“I’m serious.” she said, pulling away from the hug. “I know that being in that hospital is gonna mess you up. Please take care of yourself.” Cheng Xiao held a serious expression on her face.

“I will.” Zhengting replied.

“Now get out of here, those idiots need you.” Cheng Xiao joked, speaking of Zhengting’s members. 

Zhengting gave his friend a small smile before opening the door and leaving warm safety behind for cold uncertainty.

 

* * *

 

 

“Sorry, I’m on strict orders to direct all procedures for this patient, even minor ones, to Doctor Zhou.” The voice came through the speaker. 

“What do you mean?! I’m Doctor Zhou! This is my patient! I need a nurse to come change his dressings!” Yanchen exclaimed over the phone.

“Sorry, I can’t help you there.” The voice spoke again. At this, Yanchen hung up the phone. 

“Unbelievable.” He sighed, exasperatedly, leaning back in the chair at the nurses’ station. He caught sight of Linong who had just come around the corner. 

“Linong!” Yanchen called to him, making the nurse freeze in his steps before slowly backing up and turning around to run away.

Getting out of his chair, Yanchen ran after him, much to the dismay of the other nurses, until he was able to grab a fistful of Linong’s scrubs. Alarm showed on the nurse’s face as he knew he had been caught.

“Linong,” Yanchen panted. “You’re a good person, you  **have**  to tell me the truth. Did Zhou Rui set up a ploy with the nurses to make sure I would have to address all procedures for Mr. Ding?” Yanchen asked, ready to explode at the potential answer.

“Oh, um, I’m being paged! I have to go!” Linong tried to escape Yanchen’s grip with no success. 

“Tell me the truth.” Yanchen lowered his voice to seem more threatening, and it seemed to work as Linong sighed before answering: “Yes, he did.” 

Immediately releasing Linong, Yanchen raced back down the hall to where he was sitting moments ago to find the perpetrator exiting a patient room. He stomped over to his friend, who struggled to hide the amused look on his face. 

“I am going to  **KILL**  you!” Yanchen said, smacking his friend’s arm as hard as he could.

“Ow! That hurt.” the older resident said. 

“Good.” Yanchen replied, glaring at him. 

“Well, now I don’t feel as guilty about it anymore since you hit me.” Zhou Rui retorted, rubbing his arm.

“You are  **impossible**.” Yanchen groaned, making his friend laugh. 

“And you, have a dressing to change.” he said, dropping what Yanchen recognized as Zeren’s chart into his hands before walking away, clearly way too proud of himself.

Grumbling to himself, Yanchen begrudgingly made his way over to room 4618 and opened the door forcefully. 

A loud swear came from Zeren, who seemingly had been surprised at the doctor’s sudden entrance. However, the surprised expression quickly melted into an unreadable one.

“What do you want?” He asked, not saying it in a bratty way but not in a way that said he was ready to comply either. 

Sighing, Yanchen moved to the hand sanitizer dispenser on the wall, allowing the substance to cover his right hand before rubbing them together. He then pulled gloves out from a box above Zeren’s head before answering. 

“I’m here to change your dressing.” Yanchen said exasperatedly. 

“I thought you said another doctor would do it.” Zeren said.

“Well, they’re all busy.” Yanchen grunted, pulling the latex over his hands.

Zeren displayed a confused expression, hiding the fact that he was actually glad the others were “busy”. 

Yanchen moved quickly, gathering the supplies he needed to clean the incision site as well as administer more antibiotics and laying them on a tray before pulling it over to Zeren’s bedside. 

“Roll over onto your right side.” Yanchen ordered. Zeren looked the resident up and down before complying, trying to shift as much as he could under the limits of all the wires and tubes coming off of him.

“What exactly are you doing?” Zeren asked. 

“I’ll clean the wound and then administer an antibiotic of sorts.” Yanchen replied, beginning to unbutton the gown at Zeren’s side to expose the bandaging around his ribs. As the resident began to peel away the previous bandages, the adhesive pulled on the sore skin of Zeren’s side, making him groan in pain. 

Upon hearing this, Yanchen immediately felt bad for being so abrasive. Even if Zeren had rubbed Yanchen the wrong way that morning, he was still another patient that he should at least be civil to.

“Sorry.” He apologized. “I’ll go slower.” 

Zeren noted the softening of the resident’s demeanor and speech, allowing himself to do the same. 

“It’s okay.” He replied quietly. 

Taking this as a verbal cue to continue, Yanchen carefully pulled the rest of the coverings free, exposing the wound to the sterile air. 

“Is this going to hurt?” Yanchen heard Zeren ask.

“Do you want the truth?” he questioned to which the brunette nodded.

“It’ll sting a bit.” Yanchen replied honestly. “You might want to brace yourself.” He warned. 

Zeren gripped the handrail of his bed, taking Yanchen’s advice. 

“I’ll start now.” the resident said softly, picking up a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol and beginning to clean the area. 

Zeren hissed in pain at the burning feeling running rampant around the cut but said nothing. He held onto the rail tightly as Yanchen quickly finished sanitizing the wound. 

“Done. Let me just rebandage it and give you those antibiotics and then you can rest.” He told the gang member. 

“Thank god.” Zeren breathed a sigh of relief.

Yanchen meticulously wrapped up the brunette’s side, taking care not to irritate the wound any more than need be before closing the gown.

“You can sit up now.” the resident notified Zeren, who rolled back onto his back and attempted to scoot up to rest his back on the pillows. Yanchen had his back to him at this point, preparing the antibiotics. Zeren had just begun to relax when Yanchen turned around holding a syringe with what Zeren swore was the biggest needle he’s ever seen attached to it.

“Wait, that’s the antibiotic?” He asked, voice weary.

“Yeah. So?” the older asked, tapping the top of the syringe to get rid of the air bubbles. 

“Isn’t there like, another way to do this?” Zeren asked anxiously.

“Wait. Don’t tell me that  **you**  of all people are afraid of shots.” Yanchen deadpanned. 

Zeren looked unsure of how to respond.

“The guy who I gave stitches on my bathroom counter with no pain medication, is afraid of shots?” Yanchen started to laugh, effectively shattering whatever awkward air was left in the room.

“It’s only now too. You were fine when I drew blood from you in the ER.”

“Listen, that’s a really big needle you’ve got there... and it’s different now; I have nothing else to focus on.” Zeren tried to explain but it only made Yanchen laugh harder. 

“Oh my god, that’s hilarious.” the resident said, finally calming down. 

Noticing the tense air around the brunette, Yanchen began to explain. “Don’t worry, it’s going into your central line, not into your arm or anything.” He said.

“You better not tell anyone about how I just reacted.” Zeren said, half threatening, half pleading. 

Letting out another chuckle, Yanchen reassured the gang member. 

“My lips are sealed.”

Zeren visibly relaxed at this, sort of melting back into the pillows he rested on. 

Quiet fell over the two as Yanchen quickly and expertly injected the antibiotic into a tube leading into Zeren’s central line. After finishing, the resident disposed of the syringe in a sharps container and pulled off his gloves. 

Zeren was the first one to speak again. 

“I know I was an ass to you earlier. I’m sorry.” He said, almost muttering the apology part of the sentence. 

Yanchen looked up from Zeren’s chart. He tried to read the Yuehua member’s expression for a moment before responding. 

“It’s okay. I wasn’t much better.” He stated. 

“No, you weren’t.” Zeren added with a chuckle.

“I don’t think either of us expected to see each other again, so it kind of threw me for a loop.” the resident admitted. 

“Me too.” the brunette confessed. 

“Well, I’ll be back to check on you later. Seems the nurses have it out for me.” Yanchen said, earning a small smile from Zeren. “In the meantime, it seems you have a whole football team waiting to visit you now that you’re awake.”

“That’s not an inaccurate statement.” Zeren replied. 

“I’ll send them in on my way out.” the older said, beginning to walk out of the room. 

“Hey,” Zeren caugh Yanchen’s attention on the way out, making the resident freeze for a moment.

“I never got to say thanks, so... y’know.” the brunette moved his head in a way that made Yanchen get the gist of what he was saying.

“Wow, so heartfelt. I’m touched, really.” Yanchen said, placing his hand over his heart sarcastically. 

“Shut up. I’m not very good at this whole ‘showing your feelings’ thing, okay?” Zeren rolled his eyes. 

“Believe me, I know.” Yanchen shooting the younger one last smile before walking out of the room, leaving Zeren alone once more. 

Zeren lie still in his bed with only one question running through his head: 

**“Why did I enjoy that?”**

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god. This part was a pile of cheesy garbage. I apologize for anyone who is lactose intolerant. 
> 
> It’s soft though, so hopefully you enjoyed the change from all the intense stuff. 
> 
> Zhengting though, who knew right? I got major inspiration writing this part and wrote literally almost all of it today. I also have new ideas for upcoming chapters so look forward to that. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!
> 
> Grace


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